Page 24 of The Tribes of Magic
“I am Seriana, Queen of Vampires.” The title rolled off her tongue like oil over water.
I stared at her with strange and terrified fascination.
“You are a Polymage,” she said.
I opened my mouth to protest, but Queen Seriana cut me off. “Don’t try to deny it. Your outbursts of magic are all over the news. And I saw what you did just now, bewitching everyone here.”
I wasn’t sure what to say to that, so I played it safe and said nothing at all. Strangely enough, Queen Seriana didn’t look mad; she actually seemed intrigued. She looked at me like she was memorizing every curve of my face, counting every hair on my head, measuring every nail on my fingers.
I tucked my hands behind me. The last thing I wanted was for this elegant, regalvampireto know that I sometimes bit my fingernails.
Though, come to think of it, she couldn’t exactly judge me for biting my fingernails when vampires had the much nastier habit of biting people. Or was that just a myth?
“I haven’t seen you around here before,” Queen Seriana said.
I counted the fat rubies on her tiara and found over twenty of them. That crown must have weighed a ton. How had her neck not snapped under the weight of it?
“I’m new.”
“I can see that.” She laughed behind her hand. “Only someone who knows nothing of our ways would attempt a stunt like that.”
“Well, it worked.” I indicated all the people lining up to speak to Kato and the General.
Her lips were pinched. “Yes. So it appears.”
“I’m curious, Queen Seriana, what exactly is bothering you? The fact that the Knights of Gaia have enough magic to pull off such an impossible ‘stunt’? Or that you made the mistake of ignoring the most powerful people in all the Many Realms, and now you need to compete with everyone else for our favor?”
“Don’t fool yourself, child. The Knights of Gaia are not half as powerful as you think you are.” She hit me with a dark granite glare.
I countered with an easy smile. “And yet we’re still at least twice as powerful as you.”
She bristled. “Do you always speak your mind so freely?”
I shrugged. “Pretty much.”
The Vampire Queen stared at me for a long while, like she believed if she stared hard and long enough, I would burst into flames. I folded my arms over my chest and met her stare, never letting my smile fade.
Finally, Queen Seriana blinked. And then she laughed.
I hadn’t expected that at all.
“You’re very brave, young Apprentice. I’ll give you that. And while I’m at it, let me give you something else: a piece of advice. Shocking displays of magic won’t be enough to secure your realm’s place in the Many Realms. That will take patience, perseverance, and proof of your worth—proof that goes beyond a few flashy magic tricks.”
“I’ll be sure to remember that,” I said with a tight smile.
“You do that,” she told me. “It might just save your life.”
Then Queen Seriana swooshed around and joined the line of leaders waiting to speak to the Gaian delegation. Standing tall and confident between the President and the General, Kato watched the Queen for a few steps, then his gaze shifted to me.
His brows lifted, as if to say,Can’t you stay out of trouble for even five minutes?
He was right. I was really bad at talking to queens. Maybe Kato could loan me a book on royal etiquette when we were done for the day. Until then, I should probably stay far away from them. The room had stopped spinning. Mostly. I was probably good to walk. In fact, I had to hightail out of here before Ainsley came looking for me. My half hour was long over.
Two vampires joined Queen Seriana in the line. They both had her eyes. They had to be her children.
The taller of the two was a youthful man dressed in a princely suit, crimson in color.
The other vampire was a girl about my age, with bouncy blonde hair and a shimmery layer of pink lip gloss. Her party dress wasn’t crimson like her companion’s; it was bright yellow and glittery, like someone had woven it from a ray of sunshine.
